Japanese women long for samurai men
NTV’s “Zoom In Super” morning show takes on the “History Girl” (rekijo) boom that is hitting Japan (subbed in English):
The AFP has a good article up about this trend:
In testing times like these, “people tend to turn to strong symbolic figures on whom they can project their ideals,” said Hideki Nakagawa, a Nihon University sociology professor and an expert on pop culture.
What started out as a trend among video game nerds erupted into a mainstream craze this year after young women latched onto it. Japanese media quickly found a label for them — “rekijo,” or female history geeks.
In a society where market researchers recently identified a new male demographic as passive ‘herbivores’, “women seek ’super carnivorous males’,” said Ichiya Nakamura, a media and pop culture researcher at Keio University.
“The warlords were different from the cold-eyed, dispassionate Japanese men of today,” he said. “They stood out because of their strong personalities.”
In a store dedicated to samurai books and paraphernalia, a 17-year-old female fan agreed wholeheartedly, gushing that the “warlords sacrificed themselves for justice and to protect the people.”
Now, she scoffed, “politics purely serves the interests of politicians.”
They seem to be obsessed with an unrealistic and idealized version of history, no doubt because it was presented to them in that way through TV dramas and video games. Still, it is good to see that historical sites are making more money from tourists.
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There is something very attractive about a woman dressed in samurai attire.
Keep it down. I can hear you fapping from way over here.
IN JAPAN’S CURRENT RECESSION, [DEMOGRAPHIC] IS CHANGING AND STARTING A BOOM/SENSATION/CRAZE/PHENOMENON THAT IS SWEEPING THE NATION, EXCEPT IT ISN’T. WE WILL PROVE THIS BY EXPLAINING HOW A SMALL GROUP OF PEOPLE REPRESENTS ALL OF JAPAN. [DEMOGRAPHIC]‘S CHANGE IS CAUSED BY THE RECESSION/THE LOST DECADE/INCOMPETENT JAPANESE MEN/THE DOWNFALL OF JAPANESE SOCIETY. IN CONCLUSION, JAPAN IS VERY WACKY AND BACKWARDS.
HOW DARE THE WESTERN MEDIA REPORT SOMETHING THE JAPANESE MEDIA IS WIDELY REPORTING AS A NATIONAL TREND.
I MUST DEFEND THE HONOR OF NIPPON BY LEAVING AN ANONYMOUS COMMENT ON THIS BLOG.
WHAT IS GOING ON HERE? I’M SO CONFUSED!!! THE AMOUNT OF CAPS I HAVE JUST SEEN HAS SHOCKED THE COMMON DECENCY OUT OF ME! MY GOD!!! I AM CAPS!!! FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-
One of the male reporters is pretty annoying, never seen anything like it.
I agree.
He was laughing out loud every time they showed a girl playing samurai. I mean yea its kind of silly and I really doubt a modern woman could find happiness in feudal Japan, but he was pretty rude and loud.
The report was amusing and it seemed like harmless fun. I didn’t see the need to bust out in laughter.
Girls want a man who’s truly a man, eh? Since when was that a surprise to anybody? In this age of WOE IS ME-ism, people who are willing to tough it out and break out through are getting smaller and smaller.If you want something good to happen, get out there and make it happen
Girls want a man who’s truly a man, eh?
If he’s nice, polite and helpful to them, they won’t have something to complain to their girlfriends about when they fail to change him.
Yeah yeah, and Japanese men secretly long for the Yamato Nadeshiko ideal of the demure and reserved beauty instead of loud and uppity women of today. Or something like that.
The whole image of “herbivorous men” fanned by the masugomi is so ridiculous any ways.
I can empathize with these women. I don’t know about where you live, but when I lived in Oyama (Tochigi), the guys were almost obscenely metrosexual. We’re talking glitter, man-purses, tight jeans, the works. A huge chunk of the entire male demographic definitely spent more time on their hair than any of the females did; I repeatedly saw guys in class pull out huge mirrors and do their hair, and the men’s restrooms were less a place to pee and more a place to fix your hair. Men were also touchy-feely, doing things that Americans would typically associate with young school-girls — sitting on each other’s laps, what is essentially patty-cake, and holding hands.
Judging by Japanese TV, a lot of guys — even idols — are like this. With their huge, styled hair, tight clothing, small, slender bodies, and otherwise feminine physique, I can see why may women would want a MAN.
I live in Tokyo and traverse across it for my commute every day, but your descriptions are unfamiliar and disturbing.
Obsessed with hair, ok, I can sort of understand. There are a lot of those people regardless of gender. And pants are tighter here than it was back in Seattle, but that’s still variations in local fashion choices. But sitting on laps? holding hands!? patty-cake!? That’s … unexpected.
I understand that the “herbivorous” means “lacking in motivation to proactively go get girls”, “content with spending time doing activities other than dating and sex” and not necessarily being synonymous with “guurly maan (as Ahnold would put it)”. But I guess guys aspiring to be pretty aren’t too focused on impressing the girls any ways.
Well, I had always heard that our neighboring prefecture, Gunma, is known for strong men. Maybe Tochigi should be known for girly men.
The jerk who posted this video along with his view of the women into samurai guys sound like most white typical gaijin guys here. Let the Japanese have their fuckin day if they prefer how men were back then…shit…white people get the renaissance fair and just about every movie and tv show glorify their history (queen elizabeth, crusades, king arthur) but gods forbid asian people or other “minorities” remember their history. I am tired of these business school yuppies coming to Japan and ridiculing every move the Japanese people make. WHat the hell you want them to do?! If they dont do shit you say Japanese people are boring but when they find unique hobbies you call them crazy. wtf? you all starting to piss me off including japanprobe.com… Their coverage of Japanese news is so biased at times and condescending to the point of racism. Ask me why I know? cause it’s all about white privilege… you look down on anything that is not of your culture.
What makes you think James isn’t a Nisei?
Did James call them crazy?
Are you aware of the race of any commenter who might have called them crazy?
Has any commenter in fact done so?
Are you in fact just projecting your own stereotypes and anger?
Don’t see too many Renaissance fairs in Japan, myself. Which “white people” do you mean? And are they really closed to non-whites?
Asians are not a minority in Japan. Unless you consider 99%+ to be a minority, which a lot of political pressure groups try to do.
Funnily enough, I looked in the Historical section of the Japanese Movies part of my local rental shop, and damned if it wasn’t all about Japanese history. Why aren’t the Japanese making movies about European history! Bias! Racism!
“you look down on anything that is not of your culture.”
Especially a refusal to use capital letters.
I think people who get angry based on their misunderstanding of posts or the creation of the site are crazy.
Dear underthinker…I am not surprised by your comments. Only a prick would point out the use of capital letters when there is a much bigger issue. Hell ya I am angry…why shouldn’t I be? Foreigners like you come a dime a dozen…always with a dry sarcastic condescending humor about anything that you have no interest in or dont understand. In the world, Japan is just a small island…you dont see the big picture and you didnt get my point. Why is it every time a minority has an original idea, so many Europeans/Westerners ridicule it? I have seen it first hand and no matter who James is, I didnt like how biased he was about the entire situation.
Of course maybe you wouldnt know cause you are not a minority…you dont know what it is like… I know what I am talking about because the same snide comments that many European/Western foreigners make about the Japanese here are the same thing they said about hispanics, blacks, native americans, indians…etc. Open your eyes and look at how the media portrays Japanese people ( and minorities) on the world stage… for once in your life, stop your condescending chit chat and look the fuk around…
[Note from Admin: I usually delete racist comments that contain personal insults, but Ms. Perry has started a discussion and I thought it would be amusing to see how far her stupid comments will go.]
Malia, you complain about stereotyping ‘minorities’, but fail to see that A) you’re clumping Japanese people in Japan with people of non-white heritage in the US – which I personally find very insulting, B) clump all Japanese people into a group to describe a fringe group of women, and C) fail to catch the point of James’ comments. James mentioned that the women are idolizing an idealized version of samurai – the kind of samurai they are familiar seeing on TV – and not the reality of what samurai actually were.
If you really wanted to complain about this video you should have complained about the apparently sexist male caster laughing at the women. Instead you’ve chosen to attack random blog posters using very prejudicial arguments, and in my opinion have failed to separate yourself from these so-called racists you detest.
You have completely misunderstood the post, malaria (gosh, I can make funny with names too):
“Why is it every time a minority has an original idea, so many Europeans/Westerners ridicule it?”
These are JAPANESE PEOPLE doing this IN JAPAN!!! These people are NOT minorities! So your entire point falls down.
And what exactly do you object to about James’s comments? Be specific. The only remotely insulting he said (which is not at all insulting) is “They seem to be obsessed with an unrealistic and idealized version of history”. So are the (white) people at your average Rennaisance Fair….
“Hell ya I am angry…why shouldn’t I be?”
Because it leads to incoherent and weak arguments that rely on passion rather than facts. Temper tantrums don’t convince others.
“Foreigners like you” – and what are you? A native? Of where?
“Open your eyes and look at how the media portrays Japanese people ( and minorities) on the world stage”
Which media? You mean the US media? Why is that relevant to a discussion of what is being shown by Japanese media?
BTW, I *am* a minority. My skin/eye/hair colour and race make me stand out every day.
PS: apostrophes are good too.
I read this, then I LOLed. Then I thought about it for a while, and then I just LOLed some more.
There is always one. I’m an American living in Singapore at the moment so a lot of the blogging I do myself, and the blogs I read, deal with foreign perspectives (expats) in Asian countries. More often than not, there’s an anonymous poster that decides they don’t want to actually read and understand the article before getting diarrhea of the mouth and going nuts, spewing all sorts of random, senseless stupidity about racism, superiority complexes and oppression.
(*I’m posting the same thing I replied to the other double-post of parent article, so the other post can be deleted.)
While your anger may be justified if the case were actually as you say it is, I have to say that just isn’t true.
James is just presenting in English what the Japanese mass media reported to ther rest of the country about these history-idolizing women, with minimum embellishment imo. Did you even look at the video clip? It was directly from a Japanese news variety show, with the Japanese commentators lolling at the Japanese correnspondent when she did her little sword swinging skit and took part in the parade.
If you think snide coverage by the Japanese, of things happeneing in Japan, for Japanese audiences shouldn’t be reported outside Japan because it’s biased or condescending, I’d say that’s a pretty patronizing or at least willfully ignorant attitude.
And if it makes a difference, since race since to be a sticking point for you, I’m Japanese myself.
Going back to the first post… sure, white people in the US can have Renaissance fairs, but we usually make fun of the people that frequent those too.
As a fellow female, I do understand their feelings. It is very hard to find a good man nowadays. They are either taken or gay. So it is understandable that they turned to historic figures. Most of these historic figures are depicted to be very charismatic and idealistic, and most women are attracted to that qualities. Then again, it is kind of hard for men to understand women anyway.
Well, always chasing after taken gay men DOES seem a bit incomprehensible to us…
“Herbivorous men” are just the Japanese media getting onto the idea of “metrosexuals” a few years late.
Three reasons why today is better than the middle ages:
Toilet paper
Toothpaste
Tampons
I can survive without those three (they had paper in the Muddle Ages anyway).
My three reasons:
Anaesthesia
Penicillin
Age of Enlightenment
1) daily bathing is the norm (usually)
2) obesity is no longer considered to be beautiful and healthy
3) proliferation of and easy access to information
I am not racist, my mom is white and this is my last damn post…. I am speakin` the truth and it is very awkward to try to explain things like this without coming out biased. My point is that you will never understand what it is like to be a minority in the west and then see the same condescending nature by the real minorities “Europeans” in Japan against the majority(Japanese). Anyways, You remind me of the guy I worked with who said that America is not a racist country and then asked me to prove it lol
I got pissed because James comments about the “Samurai Movement”sounded very condescending and of a ridiculing nature towards the women on the show. And as for him saying my comments were stupid, I have the exact same feeling about his perspective on Japanese news.
It reminded me of the comments I would hear by coworkers in the backrooms after each English lesson. You may call me racist or ridicule me as is expected from people of your sarcastic nature but you will never understand what life is like outside the world of white privilege. I admit the first post was highly emotional and the only proof I have to back up my comments are years of life in the expat workplace but you know what…I can’t make you understand but I can make you think about the next time you talk to a coworker who is Japanese or a person of color… Ask them and I bet you will be in for a surprise…
A much better post. Still largely way off topic: you have yet to identify exactly what you thought sounded “condescending.” Your entire argument is based on this idea of condescension in the post, but you have not once actually said *what* you object to. James’s comments, in full, are:
1. NTV’s “Zoom In Super” morning show takes on the “History Girl” (rekijo) boom that is hitting Japan (subbed in English)
–I fail to see any bias or racism in this sentence.
2. The AFP has a good article up about this trend
–Note that the large chunk of text that follows is a quote, presented without any editorializing by James, save the word “good” which may mean “well written,” it may mean “accurate,” it may mean “I agree with it.”
3. They seem to be obsessed with an unrealistic and idealized version of history, no doubt because it was presented to them in that way through TV dramas and video games.
–This is the only one I can find that is the least bit contentious, as it claims their view of history is “unrealistic and idealized,” but to read anything sinister into this you would have to claim something like this sentence means that “Japanese women cannot/do not undestand their own culture, and I, an arrogant white man, am imperialistically claiming a greater command of Japanese history to call it ‘unrealistic and idealized’.” Plus they can’t read.
4. Still, it is good to see that historical sites are making more money from tourists.
–Cannot see anything remotely sinister in this. But I am sure it could be twisted somehow – “mindless Japanese tourists” stereotype?
So if you could list the specific gripes you have with this post rather than going off half-cocked about totally unrelated subjects, maybe we can make some progress.
“I can make you think about the next time you talk to a coworker who is Japanese or a person of color…”
Think about what exactly? How “white privilege” affects my relations with them? But if I can never understand, being white (and I assume you yourself can only ever half understand), then what I am supposed to do? Seems a lot like faith – trust that “you are wrong but you can never really understand why and thus never correct it, but since I do, just do what I say….”
Maybe it comes out as biased because, well … it IS biased.
Your posts read as though you have an acute case of persecution complex or paranoia that The White Men are out to get everything and everyone that is not.
You claim you are not racist, but you are indeed so if you try to bring race into everything you see, thus skewing your perception of what’s going on. It seems like you’re so sensitive and over-reacting to the race factor that any time you see a caucasian criticizing something or someone that happens to be of a difference race, it’s immediately “racist” and “condescending”, irrelevant to what’s actually being said.
Is there discourse out there that actually is racist, bigoted, and patronizing? Sure. I feel sorry for if you were personally exposed to so much that it hardened you to assume that’s the case for everything. But that’s a totally different matter from pointing out how that assumption is mistaken and unconstructive.
And of course, you’ve (unconstructively) pre-empted any criticism against yourself by declaring that A) everyone here is of a “sarcastic nature” so any comments against you are only mean-spirited and don’t count, B) the nature of this supposed condescension stems from the immutable factor of race, thereby nullifying any point in exchane of opinion or counterarguments, and C) you’re just right.
Malia – sure White people can’t understand what it’s like to be a minority in the West, but how can you expect them to?
It does depend on when you are – sure, all crackers look alike now, but back when them negroes were still kept under, there was tremendous bias against (for example) Irish and Italians. And Jews of course. For example, one reason why the stereotype of the Irish New York cop exists is that was one of the few occupations they were allowed in. And also to protect themselves against the oppression they were subject to.
In short, no matter how homogenous the group looks to an outside, inside there is always room for more discrimination, though this is greatly mitigated when the group finds an outsider to discriminate against itself. So yes, white people can and have known what it is like to be a minority.
Fair point, but I was referring to the here & now.
I’m quite sure that you can’t understand how it feels to be a minority in the West, much like I can’t fully understand how it feels to be a White person living in the West.
Anyway, my point was, why does Malia care what White people think? Forcibly changing people’s views or opinions is wrong, it’s a person’s prerogative to have their own views – the only thing you can change is your own mentality. If you spend your life worrying about what other people think, you’re not going to make much progress in life.
Incidentally, getting back to the topic of the video, I would add my personal recommendation to check out Azuchi Castle, ideally after reading up on its design and history so you know what you are looking at. It’s quite a well-preserved site, and is undergoing some minor restoration to recreate some of the wooden buildings that existed along the wide straight stairway (a stairway that some scholars believe was created expressly for the Emperor to use when he visited, though he never did). The stairway is flanked with the sites of residences, though their attribution is uncertain: hence you can see where Toyotomi Hideyoshi is supposed to have had his residence, but it’s not certain so is termed 伝羽柴秀吉邸跡 – with Den in front. While the girl at Kenshin’s castle talked about the view, with Azuchi at least the view, while pleasantly rural, is deceptive in that the shoreline of Lake Biwa has been extended out and the hill no longer sits on the edge of the lake. Azuchi Castle itself was a radical departure from anything previously seen – or since, really – and is quite fascinating. The interior of the donjon reminds me rather of the bathhouse in Sen to Chihiro. The two upper floors have been reconstructed (not in situ) and should be easy to find pics of.
You know what…While I do not agree with everything and some of the people (maybe most) dont agree with what I said, I appreciate the replies and hope I had left no hard feelings. IF I have offended anyone then I am truly sorry.
Malia, I don’t completely disagree with you, but your posts are full of so much negative emotion.
I strongly advise you to read The Autobiography Of Malcolm X. It might widen your perspective, it certainly did so for me.
I must add that I don’t feel that James is making an effort to be purposely condescending or offensive.
歴女と友達になれたいですよね。カワイイ
Japanese media has finally recognized the trend of history geeks
Female history geeks attending sengoku festivals in yoroi armors were not uncommon even ten years ago, not to mention those visiting ruins of castles. As long as I know, this festival has been gathering considerable number of female participants every year for more than a decade. The reason I know this is that, about eight years ago, when I was running a website concerning the medieval Japanese history, I was invited by a female reader to participate in the festival. She told me that she had been participating in it with her friends for several years.
BTW, there were several famous female warriors in the medieval Japan, e.g. Tomoe Gozen in the late 12th century and Tsuru-hime in the mid-16th century (I cannot find English-language websites describing about Tsuru-hime, but you can see a photo of her armor at the top of this page; it is the only female armor preserved from the sengoku period). Thanks to these female warriors, women wearing yoroi armors are not necessarily look odd. (I don’t think female warriors wore kabuto helmets, though.)